Texas Supreme Court allows ban on minor gender dysphoria surgeries to take effect

(The Center Square) – The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a new state law to go into effect Friday, Sept. 1, prohibiting surgeries and procedures on, and pharmaceutical drugs from being administered to, minors suffering from gender dysphoria.

A lower court issued an injunction blocking the law from going into effect, prompting the Office of the Attorney General to file a Notice of Accelerated Interlocutory Appeal with the Supreme Court. Its notice stated the ruling and law would go into effect Sept. 1. Those suing filed an emergency appeal with the Texas Supreme Court to stop the law from into effect while the lawsuit continued.

The Texas Supreme Court rejected their emergency appeal on Thursday. It issued a statement saying the “appellees’ emergency motion for temporary relief denied” and did not expound further. By doing so, it allowed the law to go into effect on Sept. 1.

At issue is SB 14, filed by Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, which passed the House and Senate during the regular legislative session in May. Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law June 2. 

The bill prohibits procedures and treatments for gender transitioning or gender reassignment from being performed on minors suffering from gender dysphoria and prohibits public money or public assistance from being used to fund such procedures and treatments.

It amends the state Health and Safety Code to prohibit a child health plan, including health care providers and Medicaid, from providing coverage for services “intended to transition a child’s biological sex as determined by the child’s sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous profiles,” according to the bill language, among other prohibitions.

After the lawsuit was filed, Campbell issued a statement saying, “we are confident the law is on our side, and that any attempts to overturn this legislation will ultimately be unsuccessful.”

She also said, “The doctors who perform them are often ignorant of the research or indifferent to how evidence-based medicine works. A growing list of European countries are recognizing that these treatments carry serious, life-long risks and are still, in the words of Finland’s healthcare authority, an ‘experimental practice.’… The State of Texas maintains its stance that there is insufficient evidence supporting continued medical experimentation on children.

“It is important to understand that pediatric gender medicine is not settled science as those who have filed this suit would purport. We emphasize that no systematic reviews have demonstrated the value of these treatments, while some of the harms—like lifelong sterility for children who undergo full medical transition—are biological certainties.”

The ACLU, which was among several parties that sued arguing the law is unconstitutional, said the ruling was “cruel” and “The fight is far from over.”

The Office of the Attorney General said it “will continue to enforce the laws duly enacted by the Texas Legislature and uphold the values of the people of Texas by doing everything in its power to protect children from damaging, unproven ‘gender transition’ interventions.”

Oral arguments are scheduled to be heard before the Texas Supreme Court on Nov. 28.